Singer/songwriter, Lydia Brownfield, spent many years honing her craft in Atlanta, opening for artists such as Loudon Wainwright III, Peter Case, Shawn Mullins and Indigo Girls, as well as playing shows with her band in the area’s top clubs.

Before settling in Columbus, Lydia became a regular performer in the coffee houses of Greenwich Village, and began a recording career that has continued to date.

Her songs are pulled from experiences of growing up in Columbus, Ohio, her studies at the local fine arts college, a decade of living and performing in Atlanta, touring the south, and then moving to New York City - not least having gone through two difficult divorces and now being a mom. All of which brings a dramatic and entertaining live show.

Alongside Lydia, you'll find her longtime partner, Jeff Dalrymple. His finger picking guitar playing is the ultimate compliment to Brownfield's pure and captivating voice as they showcase super tight harmonies - as the listener, unsure where Lydia begins and Jeff ends, is taken on a journey of Lydia's storied past, and a hopeful future while the vocals and guitars weave an intricate web of songs that are thoughtfully crafted and beautifully executed.

Look for live performances either solo or with Dalrymple - and sometimes with her favorite rhythm section.

My music & Influences:

It's not exactly pop. Maybe Alternative or Indie Folk Rock, or Americana. It's a sort of folk-pop, blues, rock, alt country maybe - with a desperate edge. I write about things that happen in my life. The things I fear, the ones I love, the places I've seen and the darkest roads I've been down. In general, my songs all have a common thread. A mix of hope and despair is as close as I can get. It's easier to say what it is not than what it is. It's not happy, but hopeful, it's not sad, but introspective, it's not angry, just misunderstood.

As a young child my family listened to Jazz - lots of Bossa Nova; Jobim, Stan Getz, and true Jazz greats like Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. The '30's and '40's swing vocalists like Ella F., Louis A., Cab C., and Edith Piaf were favorites of my grandmother. My foundation years; it was all folk. Carly Simon, Ricky Lee Jones, Carole King, Buffy Saint Marie (anyone remember her?!). And in my teen years I was bombarded with my brother's influences, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Fleetwood Mac, Yes, Rush, to name a few. But everything changed when I began listening to my own choices.

Among the first albums of my own I had and LOVED were, Siouxsie and the Banshees, X, Sinead O'Connor, P.J. Harvey, Everything But The Girl, The Smiths, The Pogues, Joy Division, David Bowie, Talking Heads, New Order, Violent Femmes, Roxy Music, Devo, Elvis Costello, Adam and the Ants, The Clash, Kate Bush, Tom Waits, Sex Pistols.... this list could go on and on and on. These were the artists that I would play into the ground. Over and over until I had to buy the tape again and again - and then later, of course, I had to buy it on CD.

I started writing songs in the early nineties and continue to date - with brief episodes of weary discontent with the whole business of writing songs. My early days were the biggest influences for me. After moving to Atlanta and immersing myself into the music scene, I started to listen to some truly AMAZING music by artists such as Ani Difranco, Nirvana, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Radiohead, Portishead, Morphine, Jeff Buckley, Muse, Beck, but mostly I was influenced by my music cohorts that I was sharing stages with, my band mates and other musicians I hung around with.

Moving into the new millennium, I found myself getting into artists who have something deep and meaningful to say that reaches the center of my soul - or voices and arrangements that hit a certain chord and gave me creative inspiration. Music legends like Patty Smith, Tom Waits, Billy Holiday and Nina Simone to name a few - and other newer artists like Jack White, St. Vincent, Lord Huron, Sufjan Stevens and Juana Molina.

And now with everyone's music everywhere online I stumble onto all kinds of mind blowing music. What an amazing mix of wonderful, beautiful and talented humans in this world!

So what kind of music do I play? I'm still not exactly sure – but I hope you find it meaningful, or at least enjoyable.